Because he’d just moments earlier allowed an overtime marker, with Dallas Stars sharpshooter Tyler Seguin capitalizing on the first shift of three-on-three to lift the out-of-town team to Wednesday’s 4-3 OT triumph at the Saddledome.

But mostly because he didn’t think that Seguin’s glove-side snipe should have counted.

Stars captain Jamie Benn had bumped the masked man as he tried to sneak through his crease and although the NHL’s review crew determined that Rittich had enough time to reset to face the shot after that contact, the Flames’ emerging fan favourite certainly didn’t see it that way.

“He hit me so I was a little bit set, but not 100 per cent ready for anything,” Rittich protested post-game. “Everyone saw it — I had a little bit of time, but not the full recovery of the shot.

“Maybe next time I will lay down for a half an hour.”

On this night, some of his teammates seemed to snooze for even longer.

Sure, Seguin’s overtime tally was controversial, but this assessment from Flames head coach Bill Peters is bang-on . . .

“You know what? I think we were fortunate to get a point out of the game tonight,” Peters said. “I didn’t think we were very good. I didn’t think our attention to detail was very good, and our commitment to doing it right wasn’t where it needs to be to get two points.”

Prior to Wednesday’s puck-drop, they put the microphone in the trustworthy hands of Calgary Stampeders quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell, and the toast-of-the-town did his darnedest to hype up the home-side.

Flanked by his Grey Cup-winning teammates for a pre-game celebration, Mitchell reminded an on-its-feet crowd that Calgary is not only home to the Canadian Football League’s newly-minted champs, but to the top squad in the NHL’s Pacific Division standings.

“We play for the best city in Canada,” Mitchell declared.

The fans roared.

The local hockey heroes, though, couldn’t quite live up to that marquee billing in a sloppy showing.

The Flames did erase another third-period deficit — Johnny Gaudreau and Mark Giordano both picked the top corner during a 70-second span to set the stage for another late-night rewrite — but couldn’t hang onto that lead.

Garnet Hathaway also scored in the losing cause.

The good news?

Much to the delight of the Grey Cup MVP, the Flames remain in the top perch in the Pacific Division with a 14-9-2 record.

On this night, that wasn’t going to make Rittich feel any better.

“Anytime you go to a review, it’s a little scary, right? You don’t know how it’s going to turn out,” Peters said, choosing his words carefully when asked for his opinion of the verdict from the NHL’s Situation Room. “It could have went either way, and you could have agreed with it either way, probably.

“They said there was enough time between the contact and the ability to make the save and get reset on the shot . . . That’s one you can discuss all night.”

The Grey Cup champs — it was linebacker Alex Singleton, by the way, who was toting the trophy — had barely filtered off the ice when the Stars laid claim to an early lead thanks to a top-shelf shot by Jason Spezza.

Calgary’s grind line squared the score before the first intermission. After some impressive cycle-work by their fourth unit, Hathaway leaned into a slapper, squeezing the puck under Anton Khudobin’s arm on his glove-side.

There was just one lamp-lighting during the middle stanza, with Dallas’ dangerous duo connecting for a man-advantage marker. Seguin saucered a cross-crease pass to Benn for a tap-in finish.

Benn was seated in the sin-bin — a two-minute sentence for slashing — when Gaudreau buried a power-play tally of his own nearing the midway point of the third, surveying his options before sizzling a wrister over Khudobin’s shoulder.

Just over a minute later, Giordano tickled that same section of twine for the go-ahead goal.

Just when it seemed the Flames were on their way to another come-from-behind victory, rookie defenceman Gavin Bayreuther equalized with a shot through traffic after the Stars had forced a turnover on the forecheck.

Overtime was required.

You know what happened next.

“It’s always tough when you lose,” said Rittich, who now has an 8-2-1 record in 11 starts this season. “We did some good things, but it’s not enough.”

Next up for the Flames is Friday’s clash with the Los Angeles Kings at the Saddledome (7 p.m., Sportsnet West/Sportsnet 960 The Fan).

Nielsen, honest, has always supported the southerners. Ditto for his dad, Jeff.

And what about his younger brother? Well . . . let’s just say that Ryan could be unwrapping some red on Christmas morning.

“My brother is an Oilers fan,” Nielsen confirmed Wednesday afternoon as he awaited an outbound flight in Toronto. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him put a Flames jersey on. But I mean, if my last name is on the back, I’m sure he’d put one on in a heartbeat. So hopefully we can get him converted the other way down Highway 2 pretty quick.”

Before Nielsen’s loved ones are driving through Innisfail and Airdrie, by Bowden and Balzac, to cheer him on at the Saddledome, the 22-year-old defenceman will have to campaign for a call-up with the American Hockey League’s Stockton Heat.

He will report to the farm club as soon as he can secure a U.S. work visa.

Nielsen has been mostly an odd-man-out this fall with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies, scratched for all but eight games with the defending Calder Cup champions. He has counted just three assists.

His current stat-line might not suggest it, but this is an intriguing addition for the Flames.

At 6-foot-4 and 218 lb., Nielsen adds some beef to the defensive depth chart.

Word is, he has a cannon of a shot.

The rearguard from Red Deer proved he could produce as an AHL rookie in 2016-17, racking up 14 goals and 39 points that winter, but hasn’t had the same success since.

Nielsen arrived in exchange for forward Morgan Klimchuk, who was also raised a Flames fan and lived his childhood dream for one night in February against the Boston Bruins.

While the 23-year-old Klimchuk has that lone NHL appearance on his resume, Nielsen is still working toward his first spins at the highest level.

“I think, honestly, I’m at a good place in my game. I just need the opportunity,” said Nielsen, a third-round selection of the Maple Leafs in the 2015 NHL Draft. “I want people to know I can make good first pass, that I can skate, that I can be trusted defensively . . .

“I feel like fans should be expecting me to be a big, physical presence on the back-end and in the defensive zone. I love to jump up in the rush, to be the fourth man in the rush and make plays over the red-line and in the offensive zone. I quarterback a power-play really well, I think. I have a good shot, good hockey sense.

“I’m just looking to get the opportunity to grow my game more and develop into the player the Flames want me to be.”

Because this guy wants to skate for the home-side at the Saddledome. Always has.

Because he wants his own taste of the Battle of Alberta. (Preferably, with Ryan cheering for the gents in red.)

“Instant chills . . . Honestly, that was the first thing I felt,” Nielsen said, reliving Tuesday’s trade call. “I always kind of envisioned myself, if I ever got the chance to sign in Calgary or if a trade presented itself to go to Calgary, that I would always want to try to get there. So I’m very lucky and fortunate that this happened early in my career.

“I’m just so excited and so looking forward to the opportunity.”

MORE ON NIELSEN

You won’t find this stint listed on his HockeyDB page, but the Flames’ latest acquisition was a water-boy for several seasons with the Western Hockey League’s Red Deer Rebels.

He started when he was about eight or nine, not quitting until the Lethbridge Hurricanes offered an opportunity to actually be on the ice in the Dub.

“I was there when guys like Dion Phaneuf, Colin Fraser, Cam Ward, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, all those guys were there,” Nielsen recalled. “I watched them growing up, and that only helped drive my passion for the game and wanting to get to the next level.

“Wanting to play in the Western League for as long as I wanted to and not really getting the chance until I was 17 with Lethbridge, I think that motivated me even more. Having to go watch kids my own age or fill up water-bottles for kids my own age or younger than me at training camp, I was like, ‘I’m done with this. I want to be a player in the league one day.’ So I did everything I could and Lethbridge gave me a chance and now the rest is history.”

AROUND THE BOARDS

A lot of folks around both the city and the Saddledome will be rooting for Klimchuk, the Calgary-raised left-winger who headed the opposite direction in that minor-league swap with the Maple Leafs. An alumnus of the Shaw Meadows minor-hockey association and later the Buffaloes AAA program, Klimchuk was hoping for more pinch-me moments with his hometown team, but not many locals wear the Flaming C for even one night . . . How about this? For the Flames’ first-period strike against the Stars, all six guys on the ice for the locals were Stockton grads. Goal-scorer Garnet Hathaway, fellow forwards Mark Jankowski and Dillon Dube, blue-liners Rasmus Andersson and Oliver Kylington and netminder David Rittich were all seasoned in the minors . . . Flames defenceman Dalton Prout is back with the big club after a conditioning stint with the Heat. Prout was a healthy scratch against the Stars.

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